Goals galore as Muscat goes global

There was a barrage of goalsa record breaking 27 in fact, over the latest weekend of A-League games, but the excitement of all that was completely overshadowed by the actions of one player. The Kevin Muscat tackle has made headlines around the globe and the defender is set to face a long ban for latest indescretion during the Melbourne Derby which finished 2-2. The game itself, played in front of over 32,000 spectators at Etihad Stadium, was a pulsating affair. Victory raced into a two goal lead through Danny Allsopp’s’ tenth minute header and a stunning free kick by Carlos Hernandez, but a brace from John Aloisi stole a deserved point for the Heart. The Victory have been condemned for their rugged tackling, and they picked up seven yellow cards as well as Muscat’s straight red for the foul on Adrian Zahra.

The big scorers of the weekend were Adelaide United who hammered North Queensland Fury 8-1 at Hindmarsh Stadium. Both Marcos Flores and Sergio Van Dijk helped themselves to hattricks. No team had ever scored more than six in a game but United managed to go two better. Flores set the tone with a goal after just four minutes, and by half time it was 4-0 with Travis Dodd and Iain Ramsey also getting on the score sheet. The Fury at least managed to find the net through Panagiotis Nikas after 71 minutes, but further strikes from Van Dijk and Flores completed the rout. With David Williams the only Fury player signed up for next season at the moment, the future does not look promising for a club that is in just its second season.

The A-League’s third hattrick of the round was scored by Bruce Djite of Gold Coast United as they cruised to a 5-1 win over the Newcastle Jets. An excellent crowd of 14,783 were in attendance after United owner Clive Palmer e up the doors of Skilled Park in aid of the Queensland flood victims. A depleted Jets side featured a number of youth players and they were never truly in the contest. Adama Traore broke the deadlock nine minutes in when he volleyed home from Bas van den Brink’s pass. Djite scored his first on 36 minutes before Kiwi international Shane Smeltz made it 3-0 after an hour. Zhang Shuo grabbed a consolation but Djite added two more of his own to round out off a great night on the Gold Coast.

It was one way traffic in Wellington as the Phoenix picked up a comfortable three points in difficult conditions, downing a very poor Perth Glory side by four goals to nil. The home side took the lead in bizarre circumstances after ten minutes. Former Glory midfielder Nick Ward struck the crossbar with a header, and when the ball dropped out of the air Tando Velaphi somehow contrived to punch the ball into his own net. Dylan Macallister doubled Wellington’s lead as his deflected free kick deceived Velaphi and found the net. Two became three on the hour mark when Vince Lia volleyed home from 15 yards after Marco Rojas had worked hard down the left to set him up. Substitute Chris Greenacre bagged the fourth goal to boost his side’s goal difference and make it another hammering for Perth.

The last game of the weekend saw a 2-2 draw between the Central Coast Mariners and Sydney FC. Promising teenager Dimitri Petratos helped himself to two goals to put Sydney in the ascendancy, but the Mariners staged a second half comeback to claim a point. Petratos sprung the home side’s offside trap on 17 minutes to score his first before capitalising on a mistake by Patrick Zwaanswijk to make it 2-0. However, a virtuoso performance from Argentine Patricio Perez inspired the Central Coast comeback and they were level before the hour. Perez bagged the first himself, with Matt Simon continuing his fine run of form to equalise. The game wasn’t without controversy, and Sydney goalkeeper Liam Reddy has been suspended for two games for striking Simon.

Author Details

Neil Sherwin

Co-editor of BackPageFootball.com. Writes mostly on Premier League and A-League with contributions to other sites including TheFootballSack, InBedWithMaradona and Bloomberg's BSports. Has featured on The Guardian's Football Weekly.